2021 means new opportunities for growth and success for your B2B company. We’ve done the research and assembled a list of our top recommendations to make 2021 your year. Here are five tips that will help your company create and maintain growth this year!
1) Embrace the Digital Revolution
Although we were already experiencing widespread digitalization going into 2020, the global pandemic forced the world into a Digital Revolution in order to keep businesses alive. Many aspects of business that were traditionally done in person have now been moved online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing orders that followed.
Although this can be a difficult transition for many, there are new technologies and tools that are available to B2B companies that are too helpful to be ignored. There is no better time to implement new technologies than right now!
With so many aspects of business being digitized, your company’s online presence is more important now than ever. There are a few different areas you should focus on.
Website
If your website is difficult to navigate or cluttered with unorganized/unnecessary information, potential customers can get overwhelmed and continue their search elsewhere, resulting in wasted opportunities and lost sales. We have had incredible success in boosting companies’ sales and leads simply by redesigning their website and helping them achieve a consistent brand style.
SaaS Medical Startup's Website Makeover Doubles Traffic and Leads
Social Media
Keeping up with your company’s social media pages is a great way to open up the door for communication with potential customers. Posting on social media is a great way to share blog posts, case studies, white papers, product demonstrations, and even customer reviews. Companies that stay on top of their social media presence gain credibility, making it easier for customers to trust them to solve their problems.
How B2B Companies Can Use Social Media to Build Credibility
Reviews
Websites such as Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp give software customers the ability to share reviews on the products they’ve used and companies they’ve dealt with. Treat every customer as if they are going to share their experience with the world, and before you know it, you will have a page full of positive customer reviews that encourage more potential buyers to take the leap with your company.
Videos/Demos
If you haven’t implemented video into your B2B marketing strategy, we recommend you get brainstorming immediately! Videos are a great way to get customers to your website, with 87% of video marketers reporting increased traffic to their website as a result of video marketing. Whether you are announcing new features to your product, showing potential customers how to better use your product, or simply demonstrating your product in real world applications, there is no better tool to share this information than video. You can share video content to your social media pages once it is created, which can help you reach out to the 74% of people who have been convinced to buy a piece of software by watching a video about it.
2) Invest in Data Security and Privacy
The Digital Revolution we are experiencing has caused cybercrime to increase at a dangerously high rate, with 80% of firms reporting an increase in cyberattacks. Because of this, it is important to take precautions and protect both your company’s and your customers’ data. There are more online transactions occurring now than ever before, so cyber criminals have more opportunities to hack both personal and financial information that can wreak havoc throughout your company, as well as cause your customers to lose the trust that you spent so long creating between you and them.
We recommend taking a Data-Centric approach to your data security strategy. You need to understand exactly what data you have, and how valuable/useful that data is to your business operations and your customers. Once you do, steps can be taken to ensure that your information is properly protected and you aren’t taken by surprise in a wave of cybercriminal activity.
We recommend a GDPR-ready CRM software that allows you to take advantage of the benefits a CRM software brings to your business, while also keeping your valuable data safe from hackers. We also make sure all of our clients’ websites have an SSL certificate, moving them from HTTP to HTTPS and making SSL/TLS encryption possible (more on this here).
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is a simple, yet effective way to better secure your company’s data. MFA also allows you to track when your accounts are being signed into, and when people are trying to access certain information. Applications such as Google’s Authenticator App allow you to easily manage all of your 2-step verification accounts from your phone, making it virtually impossible for hackers to steal your information.
3) Give Customers a Positive, Personalized Experience
One way you can set your B2B company apart from the rest is by offering unparalleled customer service. Customers are looking for personal, real-time customer service that will allow them to solve their problem and move on with their busy day.
When offering a SaaS, your customers are relying on you to make their lives easier, and that doesn’t happen unless your software is working as promised. Using tools such as Live Chat enable 1 employee to help numerous customers at the same time, instead of traditional customer service via phone call where an employee can only help 1 customer at a time.
Your business can also take advantage of data gathered by your CRM, allowing you to provide customers with a personalized experience that makes them feel like an individual instead of just another number. This also gives you the chance to connect on a deeper level with your customers, strengthening your relationship with them and establishing loyalty. In fact, MIT researcher Eric Von Hippel found that out of 1,193 successful innovations, almost 60% of them were heavily influenced by customer input.
Make sure you are always listening to what your customers are saying, and be open to making adjustments based on your customer reviews. By being personal and empathetic with your customers, you are opening the door for stronger relationships and new innovations that can bring your business to the next level.
4) Align Your Marketing and Sales Teams (Sales-Marketing Partnership)
The main reason companies experience stagnant revenue growth is because they fail to align marketing and sales efforts. Traditional sales strategies are failing, and your company will be left behind if there is no coordination between your sales and marketing departments. We like to use the word “Smarketing” when talking about unity between marketing and sales, and the pipeline they should build together.
Every new marketing engagement should include a sales enablement evaluation. In our experience, this greatly increases the effectiveness of any marketing campaign. Opening up communication between marketing and sales allows everyone to be on the same page and closes any gaps that often result in wasted time and money.
When marketing and sales teams are openly communicating, they can find out what is actually working and generating more leads and stop wasting money on marketing engagements that aren’t producing results. Measuring joint key performance indicators (KPI’s) further integrates marketing and sales efforts. Instead of measuring the 2 departments with completely different criteria, you can implement joint KPI’s to align marketing and sales goals. This pushes the 2 departments to work together and get results that are otherwise unobtainable.
5) Reach out to B2B Growth Experts!
There’s no better way to implement these tips (and more!) than to reach out to a team of marketing professionals who have decades of experience in B2B growth and marketing. Our team at Orange Marketing will provide you with all the help you need, along with tools to make 2021 a year full of growth for your business.
Our services cover all aspects of B2B marketing and sales functions, including website design/development, social media marketing/management, blog/content creation, ad campaigns, email marketing, and more! Click here to get started.
